Meteorpilot
New Member
After plenty of web poking, it has become time to register and tap your collective brain bank. Hoping someone here can straighten me out. I’m not a plumber, but pretty handy and have replaced a half-dozen water heaters. Logic tells me this ain’t the right setup, but no surprise if I’m wrong.
7400 square feet, 5.2 baths, 4 additional sinks (kitchen (2), bar, laundry on three levels. Hot water supplied via two 50 gallon tanks in the basement at one end of the house; One gas, one electric. The tanks are “in series” (?) with water circulation by Grundfos through ¾” copper loop. Must be hundreds of feet. If the arrow on the pump indicates direction of flow, here’s the route; cold water comes into the top of the gas heater, then out the bottom to the pump, then directly into the loop. After the uninsulated loop, water enters the top of the electric pump, then exits the top, with a short run over to the top of the gas heater.
These heaters are about 13 years old (originals). The electric has some ugly burns and melted insulation on the wires, inside the thermostat cover plate. Don’t yell at me! I’ve pulled the breaker, so it’s just a tank at this point. Given the age of the units, I’m inclined to replace them both as the other is probably full of garbage and about to leak. Are these units sized appropriately? I know prices go up exponentially, but if I need to go bigger, I’ll do it. My bigger concern is the routing. It doesn’t make sense to me that the loop is essentially pulling from one heater. As soon as there’s demand, you’re dumping cold water into the tank, and the results are predictable. We get a good shot of hot from the loop, then about 5-10 degrees hotter for a few minutes, then a steady decline. Meanwhile, the other heater (if working) is sitting there with hot water of which we’re not realizing the full benefit, as it’s mixing with incoming cold water when hot water is being used. It makes more sense to me to run new (cold) water through one tank, then the next, then to the loop, in order to use all the stored, hot water, keeping the loop as far away from inbound cold as possible during high demand.
Also, is there good reason to have/keep one electric, and one gas? Would there be any advantage to moving the electric to another point in the loop? I have another 200 amp electrical panel in another unfinished part of the basement.
Somebody set me straight, please. Thanks.
7400 square feet, 5.2 baths, 4 additional sinks (kitchen (2), bar, laundry on three levels. Hot water supplied via two 50 gallon tanks in the basement at one end of the house; One gas, one electric. The tanks are “in series” (?) with water circulation by Grundfos through ¾” copper loop. Must be hundreds of feet. If the arrow on the pump indicates direction of flow, here’s the route; cold water comes into the top of the gas heater, then out the bottom to the pump, then directly into the loop. After the uninsulated loop, water enters the top of the electric pump, then exits the top, with a short run over to the top of the gas heater.
These heaters are about 13 years old (originals). The electric has some ugly burns and melted insulation on the wires, inside the thermostat cover plate. Don’t yell at me! I’ve pulled the breaker, so it’s just a tank at this point. Given the age of the units, I’m inclined to replace them both as the other is probably full of garbage and about to leak. Are these units sized appropriately? I know prices go up exponentially, but if I need to go bigger, I’ll do it. My bigger concern is the routing. It doesn’t make sense to me that the loop is essentially pulling from one heater. As soon as there’s demand, you’re dumping cold water into the tank, and the results are predictable. We get a good shot of hot from the loop, then about 5-10 degrees hotter for a few minutes, then a steady decline. Meanwhile, the other heater (if working) is sitting there with hot water of which we’re not realizing the full benefit, as it’s mixing with incoming cold water when hot water is being used. It makes more sense to me to run new (cold) water through one tank, then the next, then to the loop, in order to use all the stored, hot water, keeping the loop as far away from inbound cold as possible during high demand.
Also, is there good reason to have/keep one electric, and one gas? Would there be any advantage to moving the electric to another point in the loop? I have another 200 amp electrical panel in another unfinished part of the basement.
Somebody set me straight, please. Thanks.
